One of the pictures with the most potential right now is William Friedkin‘s pitch-black comedyKiller Joe, written by Tracy Letts from his own play of the same title, which won Pulitzer and Tony prizes in 2008. The story is about “a brother (Emile Hirsch) and sister combo who plot the death of their mother for the insurance money and hire “Killer Joe” Cooper, a cop and contract killer (Matthew McConaughey) to do the deed.”

Now Thomas Haden Church is part of the cast, playing the father of Hirsch’s character. Church has also just joined Cameron Crowe’s new film We Bought a Zoo. Church will shoot this film first, then Crowe’s movie. [Variety]

After the break, new work for Melanie Griffith, and talent for Richard Linklater’s new film Bernie. Read More »

Why should Robert De Niro be this lucky? He’s signed on to be in Manual of Love 3, the third chapter in an Italian romantic drama/comedy series. That’s odd enough, but he’ll be playing an American professor who is the love interest of Monica Bellucci. If there’s a stranger pairing I’m not sure I can think of it right now. I doubt De Niro is complaining. [Variety]

After the break, Barry Levinson’s son hires Thomas Haden Church and Martin Landau, and Charisma Carpenter books an indie thriller. Read More »

Because I know that casting news on the delayed remake of Footloose is what you’re all more hungry for than anything else, here’s the only casting note that matters this week: Thomas Dekker (Heroes, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Kaboom, A Nightmare on Elm Street) is apparently the latest top candidate to play ‘Two Degrees of Kevin Bacon,’ as, if cast, he’d step into the shoes of Bacon’s classic character from the original film.

Zac Efron and Chace Crawford have both been linked to the film, but in the last few months they’ve passed, and the directorial baton has been handed from Kenny Ortega to Craig Brewer. This isn’t hard and fast casting, though, so there’s still a chance (There’s also an open casting call for guys 18 and up to play high schoolers.) [LAT]

After the break, better news, because it doesn’t involve the Footloose remake. Read More »

Screen Gems has finally released a trailer for their teen comedy Easy A starring Emma Stone (Superbad, Zombieland).

After a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out, a clean cut high school girl (Stone) sees her life paralleling Hester Prynne’s in “The Scarlet Letter,” which she is currently studying in school – until she decides to use the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

Before his career-changing turn in Sideways, most people knew Thomas Haden Church as a television actor on Wings, and Ned and Stacy. He’s not returning to television quite yet, but he is working on something in a series format. Haden Church is starring in a new FearNet web/on-demand series, Zombie Roadkill. He’ll play “a park ranger who partners with a teen (David Dorfman) to escape a portion of highway where roadkill is resurrected as flesh-eating zombie animals.” Don’t get too excited though — the series will only last six episodes, each of which will be four to five minutes each.

Earlier this summer the casting news on John Carter of Mars, to be directed for Disney by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, starting pouring out. Now we’ve got three more great names for the cast — well, two more and one confirmation. Read More »

Suddenly the John Carter of Mars news is flowing like crazy. Thomas Haden Church said on Reel Talk with Jeffrey Lyons that he’d be joining the film, in what he calls a ‘very dramatic role’. He’ll work alongside Taylor Kitsch (as John Carter) and Lynn Collins (as Dejah Thoris, heir to the Martian kingdom). Andrew Stanton will make his live-action directing debut with the film, which is written by Stanton and Mark Andrews, with additional recent work by Michael Chabon. Read More »